The New Partnership for Africa’s Development

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G8 Kananaskis Summit:
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development

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G8 Kananaskis Summit

Africa will be the main focus of the Group of Eight (G8) Summit of the heads of state of leading Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States to be held in Kananaskis, Canada, from June 26-27.

In particular the Summit will approve an Action Plan for Africa, which is being presented as the response to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

NEPAD grew out of the New African Initiative, a development plan for the continent that emerged from African leaders themselves during the final summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) last July. However, although NEPAD is presented as a wholly African initiative it is clear that Britain and the other big powers strongly encouraged its creation, particular during the last G8 summit in Genoa. Now it can be said that African countries have taken the lead in finding ways to address the African continent’s dire economic and social problems, but that this initiative is taking place in "partnership" with Britain and the other big powers.

NEPAD is the latest in a long line of development plans and strategies for Africa. The impetus for such a plan emerged as a consequence of the serious situation facing African countries. In Africa, 340 million people – or half the population – live on less than US$1 a day. Only 58% of the population have access to safe drinking water and life expectancy at birth is only 54 years. The poverty of Africa is in stark contrast to relative prosperity that exists in Britain and the other G8 countries. NEPAD "calls for the reversal of this abnormal situation by changing the relationship that underpins it". It is a call "for a new relationship of partnership between Africa and the international community, especially the highly industrialised countries, to overcome the development chasm that has widened over centuries of unequal relations".

NEPAD is therefore based on the premise that the adverse consequences of neo-liberalism can be eliminated, that both rich and poor countries can benefit from globalisation if the governments of the big powers, the financial institutions and monopolies guide "the globalisation agenda along a sustainable path." The aim is that Africa should "catch up with developed parts of the world". According to NEPAD, African development will require massive capital investment, the equivalent of 12% of the continent’s GDP or US$64 billion. It is envisaged that the bulk of this capital will come from outside the continent, from private sector sources, although it is envisaged that there will also have to be a substantial increase in "aid" programmes, as well as the extension of "debt relief". In order to attract those private capital flows, African governments are pledged to address "investor’s perception of Africa as a ‘high risk’ continent with regard to security of property rights, regulatory framework and markets". In order to create the right climate for greater private investment, African governments are pledged to promote the principles of "democracy, good governance, human rights and sound economic management" – the so-called "universal values" which the big powers demand that all adhere to and which facilitate the domination of finance capital throughout the world. At the same time other measures will be taken to encourage "private-sector led growth" and NEPAD will encourage a "peer review mechanism" through which African governments will ensure that there is compliance with the agreed "codes and standards for economic and political governance".

NEPAD, which seems designed to facilitate the further penetration of finance capital into Africa and the continued enslavement of the continent, has already received considerable criticism from NGOs, organisations and individuals within the African continent and elsewhere. The Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) argued that the peoples of Africa had not been consulted about the continent’s future development. Professor Dennis Brutus of Jubilee South Africa stated, "We regard NEPAD as a new form of colonisation with the consent of African leaders. The essence of the document is that Africa promises to obey all requests from the West and will submit to their demands particularly in the area of investment. NEPAD will lead to privatisation of basic services which will then be sold back to Africans."

Earlier this year, African leaders held a conference in Dakar, Senegal, with representatives of leading financial institutions and monopolies, including Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Unilever and Siemens on the subject of "partnership with the private sector for financing Africa’s growth through NEPAD". In January, the British government had also announced a "unique public-private financing partnership" which aims to "create a long term harmony between the developmental and commercial objectives of the public an d private sector participants to the benefit of sub-Saharan Africa’s economic development".

Known as the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), and managed by a consortium led by Standard Bank of South Africa, the initiative aims to make available long-term debt financing for private sector infrastructure companies in Africa. Finance will be made available for the development of power generation, telecommunications, transportation and in other areas. The initial capital in the fund consists of US$100 million underwritten by the Department of International Development, a total of US$120 million of "commercial debt" from Standard Band of South Africa and Barclays plc and US$85 million of "development finance debt" from other financial institutions in Holland, Germany, South Africa and the US. Similar "infrastructure funds" have been established in other countries, including Canada and the US. According to Clare Short, the Minster for International Development, "The private sector frequently views investment in infrastructure in developing countries, particularly in Africa, as high risk. The EAIF is designed to help smooth those anxieties whilst still requiring private investors to share financial risks."

The G8 Action Plan, to be launched at the Kananaskis Summit will be a further step in consolidating the penetration of finance capital in Africa, an area where it is argued levels of direct investment are relatively low compared with other parts of the world. It will encourage more public-private partnerships, based on the proposition that Africa’s development can be facilitated by the private sector. But this Action Plan and NEPAD will do nothing to aid development; rather it will lead to further enslavement of the African continent and its peoples.

The main items on the Summit's agenda are "strengthening global economic growth; building a new partnership for Africa's development; and fighting terrorism". This year's Summit will be shorter than in previous years, delegations are limited to 24 delegates per country and there will be no final declaration. According to host country Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, Bill Graham, it will be "a less formal meeting where real discussions about substance can take place, but where there's not a huge amount of attention spent negotiating a communiqué." Instead, Canada will write a brief summary of what the leaders discuss. Besides the representatives of the G8, representatives of the European Union, World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) will attend the Summit.

Actions are being organised across Canada to take a stand against the anti-social neo-liberal agenda of the G8, which is exacerbating the oppression and exploitation of the peoples of the world. The actions will also take a stand against the "war on terrorism" and the criminalisation of dissent and demand that the economic, social, cultural and political rights of the world's people be provided with a guarantee.

The main demonstration in Ottawa is being held on Thursday, June 27, under the theme: "A March of 1000 Flags of Resistance – No One is Illegal!" The aim is to oppose war, racism, imperialism and genocide; to oppose the criminalisation of dissent and of immigrants and refugees in light of the "war on terrorism"; and to support the struggles world-wide for rights and self-determination.